THE United Nations has drafted in top flight foreign experts to tackle the thorniest issue of the Annan plan in the event of a solution: property and compensation.
Speaking at a discussion organised by the Nicosia Commerce and Industry Chamber, former attorney-general Alecos Markides said that the UN itself admitted that system regarding the property council as envisaged by the plan on the table needed improvement.
“It is encouraging that the UN brought in experts to look into the property issue anew,” Markides said.
Asked whether the experts were looking into all the financial aspects of the plan, Markides said that as far as he knew it was just the property council.
But according to an informed source, the experts were examining four critical issues of the plan, including the property council, whose provisions contained several “vague points”.
The second issue is the lack of any control on the public finances of the two constituent states.
It is understood that the experts were looking into putting into a place a monitoring system controlled by the federal state.
Another sticky point is the Central Bank. Until now the UN had insisted on having a main federal Central Bank with two branches – one in each constituent state.
The Greek Cypriot side has since argued that such a set-up would be dysfunctional, but the UN insisted, pointing out as an example the smooth way such a system operated in the United States.
However, the decision to study the issue indicates that the UN have realised that just because a system is functional in the US does not necessarily mean it will operate smoothly in Cyprus.
The alternative currently under discussion is to maintain the Central Bank in its current form but with alternating Governorship – Greek Cypriot governor, Turkish Cypriot deputy governor and vice versa.
The last crucial point under study concerned the financial institutions in the occupied north, with special attention on the bankrupt banking system as well as external borrowing, the source said.
Government Spokesman Kypros Chrysostomides last night could not confirm that such a study was underway.
